Ellison joins anti-Semitism task force

WASHINGTON – The only Muslim member of Congress has joined its anti-Semitism task force. "I am honored to join the Congressional Anti-Semitism Task Force because it embodies the ideals and principles that have guided and shaped my life," said U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). Congressional task forces, which conduct informational hearings, have no legislative role. The anti-Semitism one was founded earlier this summer by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Its co-chairmen are U.S. Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Ron Klein (D-Fla.).

 

Le Pen sentenced for soft-pedaling Nazis

PARIS – A French court gave Jean-Marie Le Pen a three-months' suspended sentence for saying the Nazi occupation of France was not inhumane. The sentence Friday was the latest handed to the far-right leader of the National Front for diminishing the significance of the Holocaust. He also was fined 10,000 euros, or about $14,500. Le Pen told a far-right magazine in 2005 that "in France at least the German occupation was not especially inhumane, even if there were a number of excesses — inevitable in a country of 550,000 square kilometers." Nazis and their allies deported at least 70,000 French Jews to death camps during the Nazi occupation.

 

Chicago-area synagogue is greenest

NEW YORK – A Chicago-area synagogue was rated the greenest synagogue in America. A $10 million project earned The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill., the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The "platinum" rating was awarded for features such as using recycled concrete, sensor-controlled lighting, and a parking space reserved for a hybrid car. Six churches across the country have received similar certification. A synagogue in San Luis Obispo, Calif., is seeking a lower silver rating. The Reconstructionist synagogue's energy costs will be about 45 percent less than a typical synagogue of the same size.

 

Olbermann slams Dobbs over ADL comment

NEW YORK – MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann slammed CNN's Lou Dobbs for his attack on the Anti-Defamation League. On his television program "Countdown" Thursday, Olbermann gave his daily "worst person in the world" award to Dobbs for comments earlier in the week in which the CNN host called the ADL "a joke." In an exchange on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on Monday, Janet Murguia, a Latino civil rights activist, cited ADL research into extremist groups whose representatives Dobbs had featured on his show, and then she described the league as a respected voice. "Not by me," Dobbs replied, "It's a joke." Neither Dobbs nor the ADL has yet to respond to JTA's request for comment.

 

Lantos blasts PLO office on Habash

WASHINGTON – A top congressman blasted the PLO office in Washington for lauding a terrorist leader who died recently.

Afif Safieh, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington office, on Monday described George Habash, who headed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as a "great leader" and opened a condolences registry for him. "I am astonished that the PLO's representative to this country would make such an asinine comment and would actually have the temerity to call on Americans to come to his office and sign a 'register of condolences' for this vicious individual," U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday in a statement. "How disgusting." Habash's group pioneered airplane hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Habash broke with the PLO for negotiating the Oslo peace accords. Although he eventually reconciled with the mainstream Palestinian leadership, he never endorsed negotiations for a two-state solution with Israel. The Palestinian Authority does not have an embassy in Washington, but the PLO is allowed to maintain an office.

 

Egypt foils attacks on Israel

JERUSALEM – Egyptian security forces have foiled several attacks on Israel by Palestinians who entered the Sinai from Gaza. Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper reported Wednesday that five Palestinians carrying bomb-belts had been captured in the Sinai, en route to Israeli targets. A number of additional suspects are in custody after being caught with weapons and reconnaissance information about Israel. Egypt has been under international pressure to impose order in Sinai after tens of thousands of Palestinians poured in through the Gaza border last week. Israel has responded by boosting its military deployment along the frontier and ordering its citizens to stay away from Sinai resorts.

 

Ad campaign targets rocket attacks

WASHINGTON – The Israel Project launched an advertising campaign highlighting rocket attacks on Israel's south. The 220 spots by the nonprofit group, which promotes Israel's image in the media, will run on cable news channels and target national opinion leaders during an intense political season. They will be seen only in the Washington-area market. The ads started Jan. 24, were shown Monday night around the State of the Union address, and will appear through Feb. 5, or Super Tuesday, when viewers will be watching returns from presidential primaries and caucuses in 24 states. The 30-second ads on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel highlight the 4,000 attacks on the city of Sderot and elsewhere since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israel has received critical media coverage for its recent blockade of Gaza. The blockade, which Palestinians blame for privations in the strip, is aimed at ending the rocket attacks.

 

Bush releases $32 million
to the Palestinians

WASHINGTON – President Bush released $32 million for emergency assistance to the Palestinians. The money Bush released Tuesday evening "for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs" is part of $40 million that the United States pledged in an emergency fund-raising appeal from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the body administering to the needs of Palestinian refugees.

 

Court upholds Gaza fuel cuts

WASHINGTON – Israel's High Court of Justice upheld the fuel reductions imposed on the Gaza Strip. The High Court on Wednesday rejected petitions filed by human rights groups that had argued that fuel sanctions against Palestinians in Gaza, ordered by the Defense Ministry following cross-border rocket attacks, constituted illegal collective punishment. In its ruling, the court said current supplies of fuel to Gaza are sufficient to prevent a humanitarian crisis. It noted that Gaza's ruling Hamas, a "murderous terror group," should be held responsible for the current crisis.

 

Shabbat Israel planned for 60th

NEW YORK – U.S. Jewry's foreign policy umbrella joined with all major Jewish streams to declare a Sabbath for Israel.

Shabbat Israel, to mark Israel's 60th birthday, will take place May 9-11. Endorsing the initiative of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations are leaders of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements. "Congregations will be urged to develop synagogue-based programs to commemorate this historic milestone in Israel's history which will be celebrated on May 8th, 2008," said a statement issued Tuesday. "Sermonic materials, programmatic aids, as well as speakers and other support services will be available to assist them."

 

 

 

Austrian woman is suspected Nazi

SYDNEY – An 85-year-old Austrian woman is suspected of Nazi genocide after new evidence from Poland came to light. Austrian authorities are investigating whether Erna Wallisch was a camp warden in the Ravensbrueck and Majdanek concentration camps between 1942 and 1944, Reuters reported Wednesday. A 1973 investigation of Wallisch was dropped after evidence failed to link her to genocidal murders. The Polish Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates Nazi crimes in Poland, has located five witnesses who said Wallisch had abused inmates in Majdanek, according to the report. "I am very happy and very pleased that this is being re-investigated," Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, which worked with the institute, told Reuters. "This is a test for Austria; this is the last chance for Austria to do the right thing. This would be correcting an historic injustice.

 

Snow falls in Israel

JERUSALEM – Several inches of snow fell in Jerusalem and other mountainous areas in Israel. Municipal authorities in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and other Israeli highland areas went on alert Tuesday for snow expected overnight. On Wednesday, dozens of plows were out clearing the roads in Jerusalem and schools closed for the day. The snowstorms were preceded by gale-force winds that snarled traffic and, at one point, prompted Ben-Gurion Airport to turn away several incoming flights. A ship in Haifa port became unmoored in the wind and drifted to sea. Israel has seen low temperatures this winter but no real snow. At least 10 people, most of them homeless, have died of hypothermia in unusually cold weather. Israeli police and volunteers on Tuesday searched city streets for vagrants, arranging emergency indoor accommodation for them. Occasional snowfall is expected to persist until the weekend.

 

WJC praises Canada on Durban

JERUSALEM – The World Jewish Congress passed a resolution praising Canada for its "bold" stance on the Durban conference. Canada recently announced it would not attend the second U.N. racism conference in South Africa next year out of concern it would stir up anti-Semitic sentiments. The WJC, whose board of governors met Tuesday in Jerusalem, commended the Canadian government for "its bold action in calling the world's attention to the corrupted Durban Review Conference process." The 2001 conference featured a resolution equating Zionism with racism and a series of protests against Israel. Members of Jewish groups who attended an accompanying conference for nongovernmental organizations said they were heckled and jeered. Another WJC resolution at the board meeting called on the United Nations to take concrete steps to halt Iran's nuclear activities.

 

Holocaust float in Rio offends

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazilian Jewish groups have objected to a carnival float that depicts dead Holocaust victims. Creators of the float, to appear Sunday in the Rio de Janeiro carnival, say its depiction of piles of corpses is a respectful commemoration of the Holocaust. The float was created by the Unidos da Viradouro school, the AFP news agency reported. Jewish groups said it was inappropriate, noting that it would appear alongside more traditional floats topped by scantily clad dancers. "Really, it makes no sense to highlight this issue with drums and dancing girls when there are still survivors of that horror and many of their descendants who carry the mark of that tragedy in their skin," said Sergio Niskier, the president of the Israelite Federation of Rio de Janeiro.

 

U.N. Holocaust discussion in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine – The United Nations in Ukraine hosted a public discussion on the Holocaust. Researchers, teachers, government authorities, and representatives of the international community met Monday in Kiev for a program aimed at encouraging discussion on Holocaust education and remembrance in Ukraine. "Memory of the Holocaust and Ukrainian Society: Educational Perspective" also addressed the problem of how the Holocaust is taught in the republic's schools and universities. The event was organized by the United Nations in Ukraine in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. "The Holocaust will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, racism and prejudice," said Francis O'Donnell, the U.N. resident coordinator in Ukraine. O'Donnell hoped that Ukraine would join the 25 member countries of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. "The total extermination of Jewry during the Nazi rule in Ukraine must be considered not just as a part of Jewish history but also as an integral part of the history of Ukraine, and that is why this tragedy must be studied and commemorated in Ukrainian society," said Anatoly Podolsky, the director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.

 

Birthright sending alumni parents to Israel

NEW YORK – A Birthright Israel contest will ask its alumni to give the best reason why their parents should visit Israel.

The winners' parents will receive a free 10-day trip to Israel in July with birthright, which has sent some 125,000 Jews aged 18 to 26 on free trips there. Birthright is asking contestants to submit videos or skits explaining why their parents should receive the trip. Nine winners will be selected. Birthright officials say that they are holding the contest to raise the profile of Israel's 60th anniversary. "The contest was conceived as a way to bring high visibility to the 60th anniversary of Israel, not just to our alumni and participants but also to their families," said Gidi Mark, the organization's international director of marketing. Contest details and a sample video are available at http://www.birthrightisrael.com

 

 

A US Airways pilot redirected his plane last month because the crew didn’t recognize the two black boxes a passenger was wrapping around his head and arm.

The young passenger was fulfilling the Jewish ritual of tefillin. Unaware of the significance of the holy objects, the crew reacted with suspicion. A recent e-mail sent around to Jewish men’s clubs after the incident showed an image of a young man wearing tefillin superimposed over an airplane and asked how readers would respond if they had to explain the ritual to the flight crew.

“It’s one of those traditions that looks weird and feels strange, and so there’s a fairly high barrier to overcome to get people to experience it,” said Rabbi Randall Mark of Cong. Shomrei Torah in Wayne.

The ethical side of the kashrut industry has been under a microscope in the wake of the 2008 immigration raid at the Agriprocessors plant, which led to a fraud conviction for the company’s former CEO.

Now, a task force within the Rabbinical Council of America has issued its Jewish Principles and Ethical Guidelines to “promote and safeguard ethical corporate policies and behavior, and encourage socially responsible activities in kosher food production,” according to the organization. The task force, headed by Rabbi Asher Meir, research director of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem, included rabbinical experts in business ethics, law, and kosher supervision.

Lt. Amit Shuker served for six years as a company commander in the Israel Defense Forces.

Visiting the United States during the second intifida, he saw “a huge gap of understanding and knowledge” between what was going on in the field and what the media were reporting.

In response, Shuker — who will speak to the men’s club of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley on Sunday, Feb. 7 — created a multimedia presentation setting the record straight.

“I try not to get into politics,” said Shuker, who now lives in the United States. “The main reason for the presentation is to explain to people the different threats Israel faces.”